Betrayed in Blood

Chapter Three

DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains a LOT OF GORE and VIOLENCE

Camilla swiped her knife out of her pocket and before Amanda could even scream, grabbed one side of her head by her hair and stabbed the other side. The last sounds from her body were a grunt and a satisfying snap as the blade pierced her skull. Instantly, the hazel green color of her eyes faded and darkened as her muscles relaxed. A stream of blood trickled from her head and down her neck, but before it could drip on the floor, Camilla lifted the dead body and carried it into the closest stall. She shut the door, locked it, and propped Amanda's limp head on the toilet seat in case the blood dripped more. She let the rest of her lifeless body lay on the floor with her legs spread so Camilla could sit there and finish the job. She quickly pulled on some surgical gloves and went to work.

Bloody knife still in hand, she began to cut off Amanda's fingers. One by one, they were detached from their previous owner at the bone and moved onto a folded-over piece of toilet paper. She pulled out several pads, ripped their wrappers off, stuck the sticky side to her pants leg, ripped them off (so that they looked used), placed the removed fingers in them, rolled the pads up, wrapped them in toilet paper, and disposed of them in the trash cans. To any janitors or other people using the bathroom, it would look just like someone was on their period. She even distributed the pads and pad wrappers as evenly as she could in each separate stall to make it seem realistic. This single process took her about 5 minutes, and all she had removed by then were the fingers.

Next, she started slicing off her hands and flushed them down the toilet. She did the same with the skin on her arms. The entire process took her a long, half-hour. She never heard anyone enter the lobby to hear the periodic flushing, so she knew she was safe for a while. She took off Amanda's combat boots and socks, removing the feet and individually flushing them as well.

Then, she cut at the skin on her legs as she lifted her jeans little by little. Eventually, when the skin on her shins was completely cut and only bloody bones were left, she pulled down her jeans and started to dig the knife into the rest of Amanda's legs.

After over 2 hours of working total, only Amanda's head and torso were left untouched (aside from where she was stabbed). The bones from her limbs were still intact, so Camilla would have to clean them as best as she could in the small stall before she left. After that, the plan was to clean the blood on the stall floor. This was less important because, though it looked suspicious, some people would think it was just a girl on her period. The last thing she would do was clean her knife because she could easily hide that in her sheath if she heard someone coming.

She took out a container of wet wipes from her backpack, opened them, and used one on one of the arm bones. This process was drastically shorter and easier, but it cost her a lot of wet wipes. She flushed them down the toilet a few at a time. She used all the rest of the wipes to clean the blood on the tile floor.

Camilla quietly opened the stall door with her knife in hand and quickly walked to the sinks where she turned on the water to rinse the blood off her gloves and the blade. She set the knife in the sink as much as it would fit, turned the water on with her elbow, and put soap on her hands. As soon as she did this, she heard the lobby doors swing open. The lobby bathroom didn't have a door, so the sinks were in the direct line of sight of whoever entered. Camilla instantly started to rinse her hands off, and she tried to grab the knife and put it at least in her pocket.

"Camilla?" a girl's voice asked. Camilla's head snapped in the direction of the voices and she saw two girls: Tiffany Stewart and Amy Gardener. Amy was the one who had called her name, and she looked stunned. Tiffany stared at Camilla, not seeming to realize what was going on at that moment.

"Oh, hey," Camilla responded, doing her best to stay in control of her emotions.

"Weren't you gonna go home...?" Tiffany asked, taking in the sight of the knife in Camilla's hand and the blood still lingering above her wrists that she didn't get the chance to clean. Her eyes widened, and she took a nervous step toward Amy.

"Yeah, but I explained it to my mom, so she let me come back," Camilla improvised. She knew her explanation made no sense, but it was all she had at the moment. She hadn't planned for this outcome.

Amy's face went from shock to disgust as she accused, "Why would she let you come back when the rehearsal is almost over? What about the knife and the blood? What the hell have you done!?"

Camilla's flinched, but recovered, reasoning, "It's just a prop."

"Since when have we had a violent show here?" Amy snapped. "And why would you even have it?"

"It was already here," Camilla lied. "I tested if it was real by running my finger on it. It's not real."

"Then what about the blood?"

"I'm on my period," Camilla excused.

"Hand me the 'prop' then," Amy challenged. "Let me see for myself if it's real."

Camilla choked on her words, encouraging Amy to take a few steps closer. Camilla sucked in a breath. There was no way she could get away with killing them both, but even if she just killed Amy, Tiffany could be a witness against Camilla. If she didn't kill either of them, they could both serve as witnesses against her. She decided her best option was to kill both of them, but before she could get the chance to stab Amy, she considered that someone might be leaving the rehearsal through the lobby just like Amy and Tiffany would have. Someone could witness the bodies before Camilla would be able to clean up.

Amy was almost in the bathroom by then, so Camilla decided to start backing up, acting afraid. Amy's scowl turned into a dark smirk as she completely entered the bathroom and back Camilla up nearly against the wall. Luckily, her eyes didn't catch Amanda's dead body in the reflection of the mirror.

Once Amy was a couple of feet away from Camilla, she grabbed Amy by the wrist and spun her around. She forced her back against Camilla's chest and held the knife inches from her throat. The other arm swung around her neck and constricted it, choking her voice nearly completely away. Tiffany shrieked at the sight, still cowering just outside of the bathroom.

Camilla lowered her lips to Amy's left ear and whispered, "Keep quiet if you want to live."